The present invention relates to industrial automation equipment and more particularly relates to modular platform units for performing product assembly procedures.
In the past, product assembly processes have usually been performed by custom designed assembly machinery which have been dedicated to particular assembly tasks. In accordance with this conventional approach the design and construction of automated assembly lines required enormous engineering expenditures and involved high risks to prove functional equipment compliance. Furthermore, once such assembly lines were constructed, they were completed specialized to the limited applications for which they were built and were not reusable for the assembly of different products. The assembly units making up the assembly line could be recovered in the event manufacturing operations were discontinued, however, in most cases, extensive redesign and reconstruction was necessary to adapt the equipment for use in assembling new products.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a mechanical layout and equipment configuration for a modular product assembly platform that allows for the platform to have flexibility and reusability characteristics so that the platform can be adapted for assembling alternate or different products with a minimum of cost and effort.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a mechanical layout and equipment configuration for a modular product assembly platform which allows for the efficient and effective use of assembly robots and machine vision equipment.
It is a yet further object of the present invention to provide a mechanical layout and equipment configuration for a modular product assembly platform which facilitates factory automation projects, allows platforms to be brought together to perform different types of assembly procedures and optimizes production efficiency in terms of equipment utilization, control and cycle time requirements.